


Depths of the Ever After

by ToManyLetters



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-28
Updated: 2010-08-28
Packaged: 2017-10-11 07:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToManyLetters/pseuds/ToManyLetters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes we don't have a choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Depths of the Ever After

Crashing was a sound that Remus had quickly grown accustomed to. As he dodged spell after deadly spell, casting his own when the occasion permitted, he chanced a glance at his wife. Dora, as she grudgingly allowed him to call her as Tonks was no longer her surname, fought with the ferocity of a dozen lions. Her soft and silky hair was a brilliant crimson; her eyes were alight with an intense, burning fury, her every move a testament to her Hufflepuff loyalty.

He could scarcely believe that the angel who duelled beside him was his wife; the one person who had brought so much joy into his life. Even in that fleeting moment, he could feel his love for her as strong as ever, reinforced by their child, safe, many, many miles away.

_Their _child, Remus thought as he ducked beside a pile of rubble to dodge yet another Killing Curse. The wonderful life they had held in their hands for the last month was their doing, their creation. He smiled a little, whipping his wand ferociously at the man racing toward Dean Thomas.

"Oh, no you don't," he shouted. The man turned, his mask was absent. Antonin Dolohov gave a quirky grin. Successfully distracted by the call, the man focused on Remus, readying himself for combat between them.

There was a whirl of colour, vibrant violet and a petrifying pink that raced toward him, narrowly missing his right cheek by so little that his heart nearly leapt from his chest; he suspected Dora's did roughly the same. Were it not for her rigorous Auror training, she would have very likely squealed in terror. She kept focus on her battle, however, and let him tend to his.

"I see you've learned to duel," Dolohov said in a low voice, casting the palm of his hand forward; his wand tore through the air in a menacing manner before once again it lay directed at its target.

"I see you still haven't," was his quick response. Fred and George's humour reigned supreme and there was never a better moment for a laugh than this, the eve of the Dark Lord's fall.

The look on Dolohov's face was not one of amusement, though it had only slightly changed from the emotionless expression that the Death Eater usually wore.

A blinding green light caught the corner of Remus' eye, but it was the manic cackle that drew his attention.

Her hair tangled and her robes in disarray, Bellatrix Lestrange stood some forty feet away. The look of intense joy that overtook her expression was both infuriating and terrifying. It was when he let his eyes cast themselves downward that he saw the reason for the woman's ecstasy.

The limp form of his wife met the floor as it collapsed into lifelessness.

"No," he breathed, watching her hair fly upward, casting itself against the vibrant colours of battle in its journey downward. Remus heard no sound save it were for the meeting of her delicate skin against the cold marble floor. He did not hear his grief-stricken sobs, nor did he hear his scream of horror at her departure from the realm of the living.

He heard none of this as he fell to his knees, and then to the ground, never to move again; never to catch another breath, never to hold her in his arms one final time. Never to watch Teddy as he grew, never to fret as his son left for Hogwarts, began dating, and married. Never to grow old with his wife. It, life, was over. His heartbeat slowed, then stopped and his eyes closed. His troubled mind found silence in the depths of the ever after.


End file.
